August 17, 2015

2015 to 2016 Political Advertising Outlook

Interested in a Political LA$R (Local Ad Spending Report) by State? Download a sample

Overview

Political advertising is forecast to hit a record $11.4 billion in 2016, 20% more than the last comparable Presidential Election year of 2012. Adding what will be spent on next year’s contests in 2015, political advertising still holds a whopping $16.5 billion. See what the forecast looks like 2016 and beyond.

Digital Media will break the $1 billion level for the first time in 2016. At 9.5% of total spending, political still hasn’t caught up with other categories that earmark 30%-50% for digitals. Find out who the big winners are.

The presidential race has allowed 2016 election spend to bleed into 2015 at the National level, but nearly half of all 2016 political dollars will be spent on local (state and below) campaigns – in different media. Check out which local contest will outspend any National contest in Radio.

Appendix A: Lists 2016 spending estimates for each state, broken out by type of races (presidential, U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, etc.) and amounts spent per eligible voter. What’s being spent in your state?